Blood telltale syringe



- June' 24, 1958 M. DANN ETAL 2,840,075

BLOOD TELLTALEI SYRINGE Filed NOV. 50, 1955 12 Mmm Mah JM ATTORNEY United States Patent BLooD TELLTALE SYRINGE Morris Dann, Havertown, and John J. Peterson, Philadelphia, Pa., assignors to American Home Products Corporation, N ew York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application November 30, 1955, Serial No. 550,016

Claims. (Cl. 12S-218) wards the inner wall of the ampule and terminating adja-` cent thereto. The invention includes the complete syringe as well as the ampule-needle assembly, here designated as the cartridge.

In using an injection syringe it is common practice, after inserting the needle, to aspirate a small amount of tissue fluid to determine whether or not the needle has penetrated a blood vessel. If it has, a droplet ofv blood is drawn into the ampule. This droplet must be immediately visible if the determination is to be useful.

The visibility of the aspirated blood droplet offers no particular problem if the injectedmaterial is a transparent and non-viscous liquid, but if it is opaque and viscous, the aspirated droplet is often completely invisible. Many of vthe currently used antibiotic preparations are viscousland opaque and consequently pose the problem of visibility of aspirated blood not solved by the syringes commonly in use.

One solution of this problem is suggested in the Lockhart Patent No. 2,693,183, November 2, 1954. According to this patent, in the neck of the ampule a plug is provided having a chamber opening adjacent the ampule wall; the chamber communicates distally with the injection needle and proximally with the interior of the ampule. Aspirated blood fills this chamber and thus becomes visible through the ampule wall. While this arrangement overcomes the disadvantages of the commonly used syringes when injecting opaque viscous materials, it requires Ian unusually large stopper of specialY form, and enough blood must be yaspirated to lill the chamber in order to become visible.

It is one object of our invention to provide -a simplitied means of making aspirated blood visible in an injection syringe when used with opaque viscous materials.

It is a further object of our invention to provide means for making visible an extremely small droplet of aspirated blood.

It is an additional object of our invention to provide a syringe from which aspirated blood may be completely expelled, thus permitting a further trial insertion.

Other objects and advantages of our invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following disclosure.

According to our invention we provide an injection needle mounted in the distal end of an ampule and communicating with its interior, the proximal end of the needle being bent towards the Wall of the ampule and terminating adjacent to it or even touching it. The angle of bend is not critical, but a 60 bend has been found satisfactory. The proximal end of the needle is preferably cut off square so that the plane defined by the end Cei makes an approximately 30 angle with the wall of the ampule, thus permitting a small droplet of blood to Ybe held between the needle end and ampule wall and to' be visible through the wall. Since they bend in the needle is not visible to the user, we nd it` desirable, though not necessary, to orient the bend so that it points in the direction of the` bevel at the distal end of theneedle. This permits the user, by observing the bevel, to insert the needle in such a way that the aspirated blood will appear at a convenient point for observation. The small droplet of aspirated blood may be completely expelled from the needle, thus permitting anadditional trial insertion. This appears impractical in syringes in which a relatively large, chamber is filled with the aspirated v blood.

lf the cartridge of our invention is used in a permanent syringe body, e. g. in a metal syringe, it is desirable-that the usual windows in the sides of the syringe body be extended distally and that additional small windows be provided at the distal end between the larger Windows in order that the transparent wall of the ampule may be visible for most of its circumference close to the hub ferrule.

The needle of our invention is preferably secured to the ampule. by means of a hub having a skirt crimped'around the anged neck ofthe ampule, the hub being' thereby held iirmly against the rubber stopper. Alternatively a separate ferrule may be used instead of'the'skirt integral with the hub. This method of securing a needle to an ampule is illustrated in Dann P-atent 2,671,450, March 4, 1954, Figs. 2, 4 and 5.

Particular embodiments of our invention are described below and shown in the accompanyingY drawings, but these are intended 'to be illustrative only and not to limit our invention the scope of which is denedi in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 represents in longitudinal section apreferred embodiment of a syringe cartridge embodying our invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged section of the distal end of the cartridge of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a view of the cartridge of Fig. 1 mounted in a cylindrical syringe body;

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section of our invention incorporated in a disposable or so-called one shot syringe;

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section of la modified form of cartridge incorporating our invention; and

Fig. 6 illustrates a modified form of needle hub.

In the preferred embodiment of our invention, an ampule 1 is provided at its proximal end with a slidable plunger 2 having a threaded connection 3 adapted to eng-age a syringe plunger rod 4; this permits retraction of the plunger for aspiration.

The distal end of the ampule is drawn out to a narrow neck 5 having a flanged mouth 6. This mouth is closed by a perforated stopper 7L in the perforation of which is mounted injection needle 8 communicating with the interior of ampule 1 and the injectable drug 9 containedy therein. The proximal end of the stopper may be cut away as at 71 (Fig. 5) to form a recess for the bent end of the needle and prevent contact of the plunger with the needle.

Needle 8 is ixedly secured in metal hub 10 which has an integral skirt 11 crimped around anged mouth 6, holding the hub tightly against stopper 7 to form a liquidand bacteria-tight joint. Instead of integral skirt 11, the hub may have the form 12 provided with a separate ferrule 13 which functions in the same way as skirt 11. Thus hub is shown in Fig. 6. The hub 10 is advantageously provided with a male thread 14 to engage a mating i of the needle substantially and the angle of bend 'ispr'efi erably about 60, the end of the needle being cut square sofas to form an angle of about 30 with the wall of the ampule.` The bend is advantageously made in the direc tion of the bevel at the distal end of the syringe so that the orientationof the bend may be observed by the user as explainedabfove.V i 1 Thecartridge is adapted to be used in a syringe body 19 which is a modification of the conventional syringe body as shown in Fig.` 3. The modification consists in extending slots 20 at the distal end 21 and providing additional windows 22 to permit viewing the droplet of aspirated blood. Y I A A modified cartridge of this type is also adapted for use in a disposable or one shot syringe of the kind disclosed and claimedv in Dann Patent No. 2,671,449, March 9,

1954. `One embodiment ofA such use is illustrated in Fig. 4.l

In this casethe ampule 23 is providedwith a ange 24 at its proximal end to act as a seat for a rubber tingerv piece '25. The needle is protected by a rubber sheath 26 and a tubular cover 27 which also serves as apush rod when screwed onto threadedconnection 3 as disclosed in the last cited` Dann patent.

Our invention is also applicable in a further modification of the `cartridge as illustrated in Fig. 5. Here ampule 28 is a simple glass cylinder closed at its proximal end by the usual plunger 2 and at its distal end by perforated flanged stopper 29. needle 8 but lacks hub 10. Instead a flange 31 is atlixed to the needle to take the thrust of insertion.

1. In an injection syringe cartridge comprising a'transparent ampule adapted to contain an injectable drug, closed at its proximalfend by a slidable plunger having a threaded connection for the push rod of a syringe and closed at its distal end by a fixed perforated stopper havor tubular Needle 30 in this case is similar toA ,4 ing a hollow injection needle iixed in its perforation and communicating at its proximal end with the interior of the ampule, said cartridge being adapted for both injection and aspiration, the improvement which comprises: an injection needle in the recited combination bent near its proximal end for a sutiicient length and through a suicient angle to bring its proximal end adjacent the wall of the ampule, whereby blood aspirated through the needle makes contact with the wall of the ampule and becomes visible therethrough.

2. The improvement defined in claim l in which their injection needle is lixedly mounted in a hub, and the hub is secured against the xed stopper by a member crimped around the ange 'of the ampule. Y

3. 'Ille improvement defined in claim l in which the needle is beveled at'its distal end and the bend in the needle is approximately and in the direction of the bevel at the distal end.

4. An injection syringe comprising a tubular body adapted to receive an injectioncartridge and having a push rod at its proximal end adapted to be positively engaged with the cartridge plunger, an injection cartridge as defined in claim 1 within the tubular body, and in the wall of the tubular body a plurality of inspection openings spaced around the circumference of the body and extending toward its distal end beyond the proximal end of the injection needle.

5. A disposable injection syringe comprising a cartridge References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,766,918 Meyer June 24, 1930 2,666,433 Ogle e `Ian. 19, 1954 i FOREIGN PATENTS 313,524 France Dec. l, 1902 645,764 Germany June 3, 1937 

